the end of the war, but the beggining of a battle
by hakai-kage
Summary: The last war began nigh 250 years ago. It's human hero now dying by his love. The war was fought between two entities, Kazeshini, The Darkness, and The Source, The Light.


"The battle is over. Finally. Humanity is safe at last from the demons.", I said to her as I bled severely. She had her own share of wounds and was dying as well, but this did not scare me for we would die together, on the final battlefield, seeing the freedom that we had so hoped that we would live to experience. It was all I had ever hoped for, even the smell of freedom, the sweat, blood, fire, and steel, was intoxicating. I laid my great sword down, stained with the blood of nigh a thousand demons, and crawled closer to her. As i went closer i noticed something on her face, it glistened, Perhaps these were the "tears" we had heard about, for the war lasted many generations and after so long all of humanity's tears had dried up. Even though I had never seen them, i knew they meant either great happiness, or great sorrow. I could not tell which emotion these were for, but as i got closer it became apparent that these were tears of sadness. "Why are you sad for victory?", I inquired. She did not reply. Then, what we had all expected to happen, happened. A great light shown down from the sky and, one-by-one we were transformed into light. I looked back to her, her saddness had turned to complete paralysis by fear, this emotion I knew well. It was in that moment that I understood, she was a Sinner, a human accomplice for the demons. Whether you were still a Sinner, or were a Sinner (relinquished your demon to the Light), it was believed that when The Judgement of The Light came that all Sinners would be dragged to where their demons had previously dwelt, if they were born on Earth, they would be bound to the Earth, Immortal, and alone. If they dwelt in Hell, that is where they would live. She had relinquished her demon long ago, but she had still accepted it at one point. The light grew closer. i knew that this may be the last time i could ever see her, so i looked at her as hard as i could, studying everything about her face to remember for eternity. I whispered to her, "good bye, my love." I shed a single tear and kissed her. the light was upon us, I, being guided to heaven by 5 Angels, and her, with the earth cracking and burning fiercely. i fought against my angels, but i was no match, being human, much less a wounded human. I screamed to her. No words. Just emotion. She had a look on her face of true terror, not the look of a man with a knife to his throat, but with the look of someone who knew that they would live forever, only to be tortured every day. This is the face I remembered. I thought of her all the up into the sky with the Light shining down onto yet others. I reached the Summit, the place where the Light dwelt. My angels dissolved back into the Light they were made of, their job being done for now. I looked around, hoping against hope to see her. I could not see her. What i did see was a great castle in the clouds and i knew that that was where the Source of Light dwelt. I ran to it and as i ran i noticed that i had no wounds, but i still wore my armor and the sword i had set aside. Though the armor was thick and my sword large, for it was a man sized Zanbatou (square sword), I ran with the lightness of a young man without even a shirt on his back. I knew what to say to the Source, for I had met It before and was told I would save the world, and indeed I did save the world, but not my world, for it died when i saw her dragged down to Hell. I approached the castle and the doors swung open for me. In the middle of the room was a chair, but it was not a man that sat there, it was a glowing orb of pure Light. This was the Source. I approached and bent down to one knee. The orb floated toward me and it spoke the words "You saved my world, here we are equals, there is no need to bow. Though I know what it is that you wish to ask, I want to hear from you." Through shakey steps and stumbling words I told the Source, "I wish to go down to Hell to retrieve a soul." The Light slightly dimmed, showing Its dismay at this request. "As I said, 'here we are equals' and so i can not stop you from this endeavor but please, listen to reason, you will find little more than suffering there. And you know, as well as I, that any being of Hell can not live in this place unless their heart is truely ALL Light, for otherwise they shall burn." I knew this, but I also knew that I could not live without her, and so i replied, "I understand this. I did not plan on coming back to tell the truth." The Source grew again dimmer and spoke, "Very well. You were my champion on Earth, but it seems you were not meant to be my champion on the Summit." The Source opened up his Light and when it dimmed i was falling back down to Earth, feeling the weight of my armor and sword again even through the sensation of near weightless falling. The ground rushed up. My human instinct told me to cover my head, but my holy instinct told me to go head first. The ground cracked and burned, creating a hole. I dove through the hole and fell for a while longer, but it was not terribly long before i noticed the ground of Hell coming up to meet me, and it was here that I thought I would die but the Source didn't want that apparently and a small Light began to slow my fall until I was gently lowered to the ground. The Light dissipated and I was left in darkness stained red by the blood of the Sinners and so I saw red instead of black. Though i could not see, I knew the way and knew where I was going, I was going to the fortress of Kazeshini, the Death Wind demon, the most powerful demon in all Hell. He knew who she was to me and knew that i would come after her. I walked through the red darkness and started to see something that was not red, it was green. As I moved closer I noticed that the green was green flames, the "Eternal Fires of Hell". They outlined a wall which i assumed to be the wall of Kazeshini's fortress. I drew my sword from my back and continued on my way. I approached the lesser demons that guarded his gate and they opened it saying he was expecting me and he wanted to face me, one-on-one. I walked through and the fortress was, more or less, a single throne room lined with hundereds of cells, but only one was filled, that one cell had her in it. Kazeshini stood up from his throne, as tall as 2 men with wings that seemed to be made of darkness. He had no horns even though the stories say he did. He began to speak in a raspy voice, that sounded as though it were the wind itself, "Welcome, 'champion'. Haha! You may have slayed many of my soldiers up on Earth, but you had the Light to help, but here, the Light can not even see you. How does it feel to be truely alone, human?" He began to tap the sowrd he held in his lap, unshealthed. It was a, seemingly, beat up long sword, thin but quick. "What do you say we get this party started, eh?" and in the time that it took me to blink at what he had said, he was out of his throne. I looked behind me just fast enough to see that his knee was going into my right side. I was sent flying into the wall. i smashed against it hard enough to knock the wind out of me, but not hard enough to break anything. He held back. i stood up after catching my breath, my ears were ringing so i couldn't hear him speak. This time i saw him, he went to my left side and this time i blocked his kick with my sword. "oh, so you CAN keep up with me. Very impressive... for a piece of human shit!" he grabbed my sword by the edge and brought his blade down toward my head. I wretched my sword away just in time, but as soon as i was away, he was behind me and held my left shoulder as he stabbed his sword into my right shoulder. He was toying with me now. Even if i could see him move, my body just wasn't fast enough to keep up. with my right shoulder now immobilized, being barely attached to my torso, i held my sword with just my left arm, and charged him. He sighed. I felt the searing white hot blade go across my back, not going more than skin deep, and he was behind me. In such a short time, i had lost a lot of blood and my vision was begining to blur. He moved again, but this time I was truly ready, I moved my sword up and blocked his swing in the middle of his intense speed, stopping him from severing my right shoulder completely. He looked at my face with complete shock that a human could move fast enough to block him. I swung his sword up with my own and, having a longer sword than his, I clipped his chin ever so slightly, but a blow is a blow, no matter how small. Again, shock seemed to ring about him that a human was capable of this without the help of Light. While I felt good about being able to keep up with him, I knew that this was no where near his true power. Then i felt it. He gripped me by my left shoulder and broke it, rendering it too immobile, then he said, "I am through playing around, while you are a strong human, this is where it ends." He pulled his sword up slowly and pointed it at my chest, just below the heart so I would not die immediately. He sent it through me. He began to laugh, dropped me to the ground as she cried, and walked toward her cell saying, "Now that your champion is dead, I will be your 'champion' from now on girl. HAHAHA!" My eyelids started to fall, even as I told him to not touch her and that I would kill him. I believed these to be empty threats, knowing I would die soon. Many thoughts ran through my head, the most prevalant being, "Why did I come here? I know that it wasn't to die on the floor of a demon's fortress. I didn't come here to fight. I didn't come here for my inner peace. I came her for her happiness. I came to WIN!" The darkness that had covered my eyes became Light. A voice said to me "Stand up if you wish to fight. Raise you sword if you wish to win." I grabbed my sword and set it in front of me and lifted it as high as my weak arms could. The voice then said to me "That is your choice, and you have chosen well. now, STAND AND WIN!" I felt my wounds healing, I opened my eyes and stood up. I was engulfed in Light, not from above, but from me. Perhaps the Source had meant that we were equal, not only in importance, but in power. I looked behind me and there were wings made of Light. I looked toward Kazeshini and he had a look of terror in his eyes. His guards were burning just from looking at me. I looked to my sword and it had veins of Light penetrating it. I looked back at Kazeshini. I told him "I am through playing around, while you are a strong demon, this is where it ends." I appeared behind him, not moving quickly, I APPEARED behind him and smashed his back with the side of my sword, sending him flying into the air. I flapped my new wings and kicked him down to the ground. He opened his wings and slowed his fall enough so he was not seriously injured. He moved, even faster than before, behind me, but I saw. I saw so fast that I didn't even have to look back and I caught his swing by his wrist. Then I said to him, "enjoy your last second of life." and after that I moved so fast that by the time he heard my last syllable he was sliced to ribbons. My Light dimmed but the wings stayed, almost knowing that they would be needed soon. I went to her and said to her, "we can be together now on the Summit." she replied, "And what if i should wish to remain here?" I was dumbfounded that she would even suggest that, but nevertheless I said, "If you are truely happy here, then stay. Your happiness has always been my first concern. It is your choice to stay in Hell or come with me to the Summit, or even to live on Earth if you should choose." She contemplated what I said, smiled and said "If you believe my heart is full of Light then I shall go with you to the Summit." I simply smiled and replied "If your heart wasn't full of Light I'm pretty sure I would've burned you" so i took her into my arms and flew away with her, even though i wished to save others, i had only been given permission to rescue a SINGLE soul. Up and up we flew and soon we were on the Summit and when we arrived everyone on the Summit was waiting for us and cheered when we broke through the clouds and we laughed and had some small talk. the crowd began to part and the Source came toward us. The orb floated first in front of her, then to me, then back to her and said to her, "You are the first in history to have been in both Hell and the Summit, you must feel proud." the orb then floated back to me and spoke, "Equal indeed my friend, haha! You are much greater than I because you can hope, I am a divine being, and thus I can not feel such a thing, but perhaps there is something to this." The Source created 1,461 angels (three for each remaining major demon) and told them, "Go to Hell and kill the demons. Absolve those souls that deserve absolution and leave those souls that do not deserve it." Every soul in Hell was released that day. It was a great day, even in the terms of the Summit, there was much weeping of happiness. I took off my armor and sword and laid them on the ground, she followed me as i went into the castle of the Source and there, I saw two chairs next to each other in front of the one that had been there before. we sat down and the world was in balance, with all the world filled with Light, Judgement of The Light, a thing of the past, and two humans ruling over humans with gentle hearts.


End file.
